Image

Born in McMinnville, Oregon, in 1862, Mary’s mother moved the family to Washington Territory in 1876. Mary married at the age of 18 and shortly thereafter bore her first son. She left her husband and son behind for unknown reasons in 1882, and moved to Seattle as a live-in seamstress with family friends. Her husband filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion. A few years later, Mary met and married Austin Mires, who would become a territorial legislator and signer of the Washington State Constitution. Mary and Austin had 3 children: Anna, John, and Eve. Mary and her first son, Frank, were reunited when he came to live with the Mires family in 1892. This family played a central role as subjects in Mary’s photographs, as she documented their activities in work and leisure...

Image

Mary left little written work behind to describe her journey as a photographer. It is not known what initially inspired her, or how she learned to take photographs. We do have a clue about when she may have taken her first photograph from her husband’s diary entry of September 22, 1901: “Mary took and printed her own photographs.” (Austin Mires Papers, Washington State University.) She worked with large glass plates, and technically, her photos show experimentation with double exposures and light. Topically, Mary favored documenting her family, Native Americans, and Ellensburg events, buildings and scenery. Her images are valuable and beautiful documents of early 20th century life in Washington.

About 70 of Mary Rowland Mires’ glass plates came to the Washington State Archives via Susan Parish in 2007. The collection is currently being processed and made ready for online access.